Then: In the early 1990s, Virginian Beverly Monroe was convicted of the murder of her longtime companion, who had in fact killed himself. A police investigator persuaded her to sign a hypothetical statement, later construed as a confession, and then convinced a convicted felon, whom Monroe had never met, to testify against her at trial. She was sentenced to 22 years in prison.

Monroe’s legal representation, led by her daughter Katie, spent seven years contesting her conviction before she was granted a retrial. Following the trial, in March 2002, a U.S. Federal District Court Judge vacated Monroe’s conviction. Even then, the long-fought battle had not ended; the state of Virginia appealed the decision threatening to again strip Monroe of her freedom for a crime she did not commit. Monroe’s legal team arduously defended her once more and the State eventually dropped all charges, restoring to Beverly the freedom she was wrongly denied for years.

Now: After 11 years trying to prove her innocence and clear her name, Monroe was freed in 2002 and relocated to Williamsburg, Virginia. Today, Beverly spends her time with her three children and her grandson. She has not been compensated for the 11 years she spent in prison. Her daughter Katie runs the Rocky Mountain Innocence Center in Utah.